Baby Steps...

Good Monday morning from Casa de Keil in West Clinton...

As some of you may have noticed on my Facebook and Twitter, I have been starting to use the treadmill.  Since Stephenie moved to SE Oklahoma, she left the treadmill with us so mainly Dad can still run and train for his 5K's and to keep himself healthy.  After the first of the year, I decided to start getting on the treadmill to get healthy myself.  So I started out walking on the treadmill for 10 mins about twice a week.  I have since started (as of today) to go every other day (Mon/Wed/Fri), still for 10 mins.  Once that's pretty well established, I'll bump it up to 15 mins and so on.

I said when I started that I may not get to the 5K or half-marathon pace that Dad and Stephenie are at, but at least I am making an effort.

As for my appetite...that's another ball game all together.  Yes, I see pics of different things like a Jiggs Wooly Burger or watch shows on Food Network or go on food sites and my taste buds go bonkers.  That's another thing I need to tackle too without going off the deep end.

It's going to be a labor of love for me, I know...especially (if you have read my previous blog entries) since I'm doing my best and following what God wants me to do.  But as we know from Romans 8:28 (NIV) And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.

That's about it for right now.  Until next time...

Need Protection? Call Psalm 91!

As I am writing this, today is January 15.  I believe I've shared this before on here, so if I have, bear with me.

It was on this date in 1991 that my faith and who I was got put to the test in a major way.  In case you have forgotten, it was about this time in 1991 that our Armed Forces were in the Middle East getting ready to kick Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi forces out of Kuwait.  I was in the Army National Guard at the time here in Oklahoma and our unit was on "standby".  I knew that meant that there was a possibility I could have been sent over to fight, so I really had to learn to trust in the Lord.  And fittingly, Psalm 91 was the Scripture that immediately came to mind. From the New Living Translation...

1Those who live in the shelter of the Most High

will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

2This I declare about the Lord:

He alone is my refuge, my place of safety;

he is my God, and I trust him.

3For he will rescue you from every trap

and protect you from deadly disease.

4He will cover you with his feathers.

He will shelter you with his wings.

His faithful promises are your armor and protection.

5Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night,

nor the arrow that flies in the day.

6Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness,

nor the disaster that strikes at midday.

7Though a thousand fall at your side,

though ten thousand are dying around you,

these evils will not touch you.

8Just open your eyes,

and see how the wicked are punished.

9If you make the Lord your refuge,

if you make the Most High your shelter,

10no evil will conquer you;

no plague will come near your home.

11For he will order his angels

to protect you wherever you go.

12They will hold you up with their hands

so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.

13You will trample upon lions and cobras;

you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet!

14The Lord says, “I will rescue those who love me.

I will protect those who trust in my name.

15When they call on me, I will answer;

I will be with them in trouble.

I will rescue and honor them.

16I will reward them with a long life

and give them my salvation.”

I took this to mean that if our unit was called to go, I have this assurance that God and His angels would protect me.  Of course you know the rest of the story...after kicking Saddam's butt out of Kuwait, President Bush the elder called a cease-fire and that was the end of that.

So I can imagine what the men and women today who are having to go to Afghanistan are going through...and those who have gone over all this time.  They don't know what's going to happen over there, but (at least to me anyway) they have the assurance that if they trust in the Lord and seek refuge in Him, He will protect them.

Forgiveness is NOT an Option!!!

First blog post of 2013 and I already have to break out the soapbox...

As you know, Baltimore Ravens LB Ray Lewis is playing his last round of playoffs starting today.  While he may be a lock to have a bust in Canton (Ohio), some people are making a mountain out of a mole hill about an incident in his past...I'm talking about him being acquitted of a murder charge several years ago.

With that in mind, I bring up this point and it has been brought up so many times in several different scenarios...if a Loving, Just and Righteous God can forgive Ray Lewis, why can't we?  Why do we fish for something that's been put in the Sea of Forgetfulness?  Answer me that!!!

A Pastor?? ME!?!?!

I don't know if this would fall under the category of "Out of the mouth of two or three witnesses, let every word be established", but here it goes...

As you know, I have a background in radio and graduated from broadcast school.  Speech and speaking are "tools of the trade", as one might imagine.

When I wrote my status quoting the song earlier, I didn't expect the comment I got...the one about receiving my pastoral calling.  Little did I know that that would set up a chain of "divine appointments".  I went to church today expecting to hear what God had in store for me, just didn't expect it to fall in line with this.  Today's sermon was from 2 Cor. 5:17-21. (New International Version, with added emphasis from me)

17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:The old has gone, the new is here! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

And then I see ads on my Facebook, "Study to be a Pastor".  Really, God?  Is this what You want me to do?  We've been down this interstate before...

Let's set the "WayBack Machine" to October 1991.  I had been wanting to go to broadcast school at that time, but my pastors under the guise of "Thus Saith The Lord" (it was more like "Thus Saith Us"...) said that I should attend Bible College.  So like the Colts moving from Baltimore to Indianapolis, we left Clinton, OK in the middle of the night for a little community called Cleveland, TN.  I will spare you the rest of the details.

I know I'm sounding like Moses here when he's at the burning bush,  and God's been known to use the ordinary to do extraordinary things (Jesus' Disciples being the prime example), and I've heard all the quirky quotes "Who He guides, He provides" and so on.  I just got to know that this is Him.

With that being said, 2013 is going to be an interesting year for me.  It'll be interesting to see what God has in store for me...and if it is that I am to be in the ministry, then "not my will, but Thine be done."

Christmas 2012 Thoughts....

Hi, hello and greetings everybody!!!

Well...it's been an interesting year to say the least.  For those of you who have followed me throughout the year know the journey that yours truly has taken so I won't get into the gory Rated R details, but suffice it to say there are about as many bumps and dips on Route 66 as there has been in my life in 2012.

(Before I go on, I am not writing this today in advance of the supposed "end of the world" that is alleged to occur tomorrow.)

Anyway, my prayer is that it only gets better in 2013.  May everyone have a wonderful Christmas and a prosperous new year.

Love, Robert

A little bit about a lot...

Greetings to one and all.  Welcome to my latest rant and/or rave.

Since November is the quasi-official month of Thankfulness, thought I would take a couple of minutes and say a collective "Thank You" to all of you, wheresoever you are on this Earth.

I know I have just over 2,100 friends on Facebook and I was thinking about y'all the other day.  A lot of you I know from growing up in Clinton and know and have become acquainted with you in various stages of my life, whether it be attending and graduating from Clinton Schools or working in radio or attending SWOSU for the cup-of-coffee I was there for a/k/a two semesters or serving our country in the National Guard or wherever.  Yes, I am friends with some news reporters and anchors that probably wouldn't know me from the "Man on the Moon" but they know that at least one person watches their work.  Y'all have seen me shine and then fall on my "blessed assurance".  You've comforted me, encouraged me, prayed for me, lit fires under me (figuratively speaking of course), but nonetheless you have been there for me.  I thank each of you for being there even if it is a simple as lending me an ear or a Facebook poke.

Again, thank you everyone for the love, support, shoulder, boot and everything in between.

"But then I realized..."

It's not often that I get woke up with thoughts to write down (that are fit for publication, that is), but today was one of those days.   So here it goes...

• I would complain about how hot it has gotten here in Western Oklahoma recently, but then I realized...I'm not halfway around the world wearing full BDU's and a ruck sack and carrying a weapon fearing each day could be my last on this earth.

• I would complain about the lack of speed of me obtaining a job out of state so I can basically start over, but then I realized...there are thousands of Americans in the same predicament (although it is unknown how many of those whose spouses kicked them out of the house) and I should be thankful that at least I have family to fall back on -- probably for most of them, their families wouldn't give them as much as a "kiss my foot".  <---notice I kept that G-rated

• Yep, I would sing my "Gloom, Despair and Agony on Me" song (Look it up on YouTube, kids), but then I realized...I do have so much to be thankful for.  For my family, for my friends, for my brothers/sisters in the church.  I just can't really complain about anything.

Now, on the other hand...(great, now I'm sounding like Tevye from "Fiddler on the Roof")

• I'm ready for 50-60 degree fall weather and Football season
• I'm ready to start over in all aspects including (hopefully) having someone that will stick with me through thick AND thin.